It had been a long, rough journey, but Jason finally saw Arefu. It was a small settlement atop a broken section of highway. A small lake was nearby, and a fenced-in area was right next to it. Jason was still going to have to deal with one more obstacle before he could find the Wests. Two massive creatures were lumbering toward him, coming from the lake. They looked like slightly humanoid crabs. They did not have distinguishable heads, but it looked like they had a sort of face near the top of their torsos.

Instinctively, Jason aimed for the faces of the creatures. They were difficult to hit, but it turned out to be a good choice. He felled one before they were able to get close. The second however, bent down and charged. It slammed into him, knocking him onto his rear. He grunted as he hit the ground. The monster was bearing down on top of him. Suddenly, gunfire erupted from somewhere behind him. The creature was pelted with bullets until it slumped to the ground.

Jason looked behind him to see a merchant and his bodyguard. Jason thanked them and had a quick conversation with them. The merchant's name was Crow. The bodyguard, Lily, had been pleasantly surprised that Jason was interested in her name. They parted ways as Jason moved up the broken highway toward the small settlement.

Off to the side, Jason looked to the fenced-in area. Several dead brahmin were scattered about. They had been there long enough to be rotting.

As he approached Arefu, Jason had to jump back when an explosion nearly took his legs off. He looked incredulously up at the person who was hiding behind makeshift cover.

"Hey," an old man's voice said, "you're not one of them! I'm sorry! Come on up!"

Jason walked over to the old man.

"Sorry about that," the man said. "I thought you were a member of that stupid gang, 'The Family.' My name is Evan King. What's your business here?"

"My name is Jason," Jason said. "I'm here to deliver a letter to the West family. What's this about a gang?"

"The Family," King said. "They've been terrorizing our town! At first, they just caused a bunch of ruckus, but during their last attack they slaughtered all of our brahmin!"

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Jason asked.

"Well, I've been a bit busy keeping watch," King said. "I haven't had a chance to check on the other town residents for a while. Could you check on them for me? See how they're doing."

Jason was expecting to be asked to take care of The Family, but he supposed people were not going to outright assume he was a superhero. After all, no one knew about all the raiders he had killed. The only things he had been asked to do were things that could have been asked of anyone. Moira could have found any unlucky idiot to research for her book, and Lucy West could have hired any brave soul to deliver her letter.

Oh well. A simple gang was not as bad as raiders. Perhaps this was best left to Evan King. Jason confirmed that he would check on the townsfolk. He walked up to the first door and knocked. The Ewers, Ken and Brailee, were doing just fine. Brailee was concernedly delusional, but not dangerously so. She thought she lived in a nice suburb with begonia gardens and catalog deliveries. That was probably part of why Ken was so grumpy. In the next house, a woman named Karen Schenzy lived alone. She was fine as well, though she had a lot to say about how cowardly Evan King was being. She did not like that his strategy of dealing with the family was for everyone to hide in their homes.

The next house was Evan King's house, so Jason skipped that. He moved over to the Wests' house. He knocked on the door, but no one answered. He knocked a couple more times, but he still received no answer. So, he opened the door which was not locked. He went inside and gagged. Two corpses lay in the room. Lucy's parents were dead. Despite the smell, Jason knelt down and examined the bodies. Something had bitten their necks. The bites went all the way to the bone. Slightly horrified, Jason got up and stumbled out of the house. Jason went back over to Evan King.

"I checked on the families," Jason said. "The Ewers and Ms. Schenzy are fine. But… did you know the Wests are dead?"

"Oh no!" King exclaimed. "It must have been The Family! They'll pay for this! Did you find their son, Ian?"

"No," Jason said. "I only found two bodies. I'm sure they were Lucy's parents."

"It has to have been The Family," King said. "I've seen their leader talking to Ian. They must have kidnapped him or lured him away somehow!"

"Evan, the Wests were killed by something that bit through their necks," Jason said. "Do you have any idea what could have done that?"

"I have no idea," King said. "They must have attack dogs. Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse!"

"Evan," Jason said, "I've got to find Ian. I promised Lucy I would deliver this letter, and I have to make sure he's okay. Do you know where I can find The Family?"

"They only ever come around when it's dark," King said, "so I'm not sure exactly where they go. However, I have narrowed it down to three possible locations to the east of here. Hamilton's Hideaway, North Seneca Metro Station, and the Moonbeam Outdoor Cinema."

"Good to know," Jason said. "I have to go back to Megaton to let Lucy know about her parents and wrap up some other business I have to attend to. As soon as I've done that, I'm going to begin my search for Ian."

"Shouldn't you go look for Ian as soon as possible?" King asked.

"If their leader was talking with him," Jason said, "I doubt their intention is to hurt him. It's more likely they were trying to recruit him. Plus, I've put my body through a lot the past week, and I have got to get some real rest. I won't be any good to Ian if I can't fight well enough to protect him."

"Okay," King said. "I understand. I'll hold down the fort until you get back. Be careful out there!"

"I will," Jason said. "You too. I know you're upset, but don't try to be a hero. If they attack, keep yourself and your townsfolk safe."

King nodded. Jason set off toward Megaton. He really wanted to go after Ian right away, but what he told King was absolutely true. He had gone from a sedentary lifestyle as a marriage counselor in a cramped vault to being wounded, hungry, and exhausted over and over. The only way he was going to help Ian is if he recovered from his wounds. He had expected to just deliver a letter and head back. He certainly had not expected the Wests to be dead and their son either kidnapped or run away. Why couldn't anything be simple?

Jason headed off in the direction of Megaton. He encountered the broken remnants of a house. A nest of raiders were inside. They had not seen him yet. He was debating whether he should take them out. On one hand, he really did need that rest and fighting these raiders could get him killed. Also, he could come back later. On the other hand, in the time it would take him to come back, they could hurt or kill innocent wastelanders. The issue became moot, however, when they arrived.

Three giants in some sort of power armor arrived on the scene. They had strange, technological weapons. Their power armor was black with red paint messily applied. They appeared quite menacing, but they ignored Jason. They advanced toward the raider house, firing lasers and rockets. Within five minutes, they had wiped out the raiders. Jason recalled being attacked by someone wearing a different sort of power armor, but that person had attacked him unprovoked. After killing the raiders, the people in power armor simply moved on their way as if nothing had happened. Jason moved in after them looting the raiders of their ammo and spare parts for his guns.

Jason walked on for another half hour when a gruff voice spoke.

"Stop right there," the voice said. "I have a gun pointed straight at your skull. If you don't give me all your caps, ammo, and anything else valuable, I'll blow your brains out."

"Mister," Jason said, "what is your name?"

"Sam Warrick at your service," Mr. Warrick said.

"Mr. Warrick," Jason said, "I've killed a lot worse than one lone gunman. I've got things to do and I'm tired. Leave now, and I'll let you live."

The lone raider walked up to Jason and put his gun on the back of Jason's head.

"You've got this situation backwards," Mr. Warrick said. "I'm the one with the drawn gun here. You even flinch except to unload your pockets, and I unload this gun into the back of your skull."

Jason sighed a long, deep sigh. Before Mr. Warrick could move, Jason had ducked under the gun, drawn his knife, and plunged it into Mr. Warrick's neck. Mr. Warrick gurgled as the gun fell out of his now limp hand.

"I'm sorry," Jason said, shedding a tear. "I didn't want to do that. I was hoping to go one day without killing someone."

Jason noticed that Sam Warrick was much better equipped than most raiders. He was wearing a suit of leather armor in good condition rather than the patchwork junk most raiders wore. Jason took the leather armor and replaced his armored jumpsuit which had been torn to shreds in his fight with those green monsters. He hated to part with yet another thing that connected him to his dad, let alone a gift from Moira, but it was a useless pile of nylon and metal at this point.

"At least I've still got the old bobblehead," Jason said as he walked on.